39 BC

Pause Game. This city is rather tough to plan. It requires twice the population of the previous scenario, and will be heavily into exports and imports for basic daily goods. The majority of trade routes are sea bound so a large area near water will be used for ports and industry.

I decided to try a different city block for this scenario. I've done too compact blocks in the past and with this elongated area I can make 2-3 blocks in one long, sloppy C-shape, with arena and theatre in more central location(s).
This is the very first section.

I build 2 of each grain, vegetable and olive farms, and 1 sheep farm north of the first city block. On the east side by the water I build 1 or each clothing, glass, olive oil and furniture factories. I open trade routes to Latium and Narbonensis so that I can import timber to make furniture for my equites and export olive oil (it pays more than glass).

Unpause game. Right off the bat a fire breaks out in one of the farms. My prefects, who have yet to get aquainted with their new city, are not quick enough so I build a prefect office and engineer office near the farms.
The rest of the year progress as usual - crops are harvested, factories open one by one, food reach the open market and the tax office collects cash!

A second olive oil factory is built in September to combat the full farms. Glass has just started selling so insulae are evolving. My unemployment is currently at 19 plebs. I alter the settings of my markets to only allow sales of glass and furniture for the time being. I need the income from exporting olive oil and clothing and I also need to control the evolving of insulae. 2 more olive oil factories are built (4 total).

38 BC

My plebs are complaining about low wages so I increase the pay by 2Dn (22 total) in February. Food production is low so I add one of each grain and vegetable farms. A glass factory is added to speed up production (2 totel). In August I decide to start selling clothing to the citizens. They also get an odeum to reduce unemployment of equites.
A third olive farm is built along with a warehouse to store wool and clothing. The rest of the year was spent expanding roads and city planning. I also added a shrine to Ceres (added Mercury and Jupiter at start).

37 BC

Funds: 3613 Dn. Pleb unemployment: 440! I build a warehouse to store olive oil and olives and an additional sheep farm. In February Rome demands 60 grain. I certainly don't have enough and build additional farms to cope (5 of each grain/veg total). I build a second granary and set both of them to each store 1 type of food.
In March Rome demands 50 olives. Again, not sufficient stocks. A fourth olive farm is placed. I change the export limits of olive oil, glass and clothing to 20. In June the stocks of grain has reached sufficient size so the shipment is sent. The trade route to Tarraconensis opens to import (5) iron. Time to make utensils!
In August the first 2 villas are built. They get a second clinic. The clothing factories can't keep up with wool production and get reinforcement (1 factory).

36 BC

Funds: 1648. Unemployed plebs: 309. Olives in stock 48/50.
The olives are sent as soon as I have enough. I go into passive mode (except for building 2 barber shops) to allow prodiction and export of olive oil to pick up. My funds are decreasing fast.In March Rome demands 50 vegetables. The goods are sent right away. Once funds have improved a utensils factory is built.
In June Rome demands 60 grain. Stocks are short 7 units. I wait to see if it builds up on its own without having to stockpile. Production of clothing is still way too slow so a fourth factory is placed. At the same time olive growth is too good so I mothball 1 farm. A theatre and actor's guild is built at the end of the year.

35 BC

Funds: 4177 Dn. Unemployment: 221 plebs, 74 equites.
Now I focus mainly on developing the first villa block. The three villas I have are large and demand exotic goods. Instead I wanted to give them neighbours, but a flaw in my design reveals that the two plots on the west side do not have access to water from a reservoir. The reservoir is moved slightly west, to the plot reserved for my exotic goods market.
I continue to tweak the city in Paused mode, adding an odeum and barber, and moving a clinic, prefect and engineer.
In March Rome throws me a curve ball and demands 50 wool. I have 16 in storage.I build a third sheep farm just in case. I also build a warehouse and tweak all three of them so that one holds wool only, the second clothing only and the third half olives, half oil.
Time to import some exotic goods. I choose salt as it's cheapest. The import limit is set to 3. I build the market and soon the villas evolve to small estates. It is also time to increase furniture production by adding 1 factory.
In August Rome demands 60 grain. I stockpile for a brief moment and send the wool I have saved up. A weapons factory is built to get weapons for the arena and gladiator school I have yet to build.

34 BC

Funds: 3202 Dn. Unemployment: 318 plebs, 96 equites.
Carthago gets an arena. The grain is shipped to Rome. In March raiders appear near the borders demanding 3250 Dn. My funds have already halved so I cannot pay without going into debt. So be it! Current funds -264 Dn! It's a brief setback. After adjusting export limits to 10 and plain waiting, funds has risen to positive numbers by April. I begin to sell weapons in small scale. I build 2 more olive oil factories and open up the mothballed farm. Trade route to Sardinia opens and imports of silk begins (limit adjusted to 2).

33 BC

Funds: 2363 Dn. Rome demands 60 grain in January. I stockpile. There's plenty of olive oil so I let my markets sell some. In February I get an order of 50 olives. Not enough of those either so I stockpile. ...aaaand as if that's not enough, Rome demands 50 vegetables in March. I have the vegs and also the grain so I send both and stop stockpiling.
I keep improving the factory sector by adding a warehouse dedicated to olives and a clothing factory. A school is built. Grain, vegetable and cattle farms are built. The grapes are shipped in June. In July raiders demand tribute so I pay them 2000 Dn. I do. A second utensils factory is built and a food market (closed to plebs) is built in the southern parts of the city. Once again the export and import settings shift. 15 for exports and 5 for imports of non exotic goods.

32 BC

Patricians have been demanding justice for a while and now I decide they shall get it. I choose a basilica since it has a city wide effect, unlike forum that has a limited radius. I also build a home for myself at the south-west corner of the city. In March Rome demands 60 grain. I have half the amount stored so I add 1 of each grain and vegetable farms to the south farmland. The last 5 villas are built south of the lake. They don't all have access to all available facilities yet but they will - as soon as I get some taxes from them! They get a barber because it's such an insignificant building in terms of size. They also get two markets - basic (closed to plebs) and luxury.
I ship the grain in August and start building an aqueduct leading to the south of the lake. Next up is 50 wool, in October. There's not enough so it's stockpiling time. Completely unaware about loss of taxes the almightly AI point this out to me. I build 1 more office. I let the year run to build up funds.

31 BC

Funds: 3400 Dn. Shrines to Jupiter, Mercury and Ceres are built near the southern villas. Rome gets its wool in February. The gladiator school is slowly running out of weapons. A second factory is built. Also, the import limit of exotic goods is raised to 3 to cope with demand. Production of clothing is going really well so the trade route to Numidia opens and exports start. I also start to import incense. I also shift from making utensils to importing them. The factories are closed and focus is put on weapons.
In May the raiders are back. They demand 3250 Dn. I buy them off and almost halve my funds. The utensils factories are demolished and I increase imports of timber and iron to 10. Rome demands more grain and I ship it instantly. The city gets a hospital (not perfect coverage) and an arena.

30-29 BC

Funds: 3863 Dn. 3 granaries are built, each dedicated to 1 type of food only. Work on the city walls start. In March Rome demands 50 vegetables. I have 70+ so I ship the goods. I build a third weapons factory. In June Rome demands 50 olives. I have 53 in stock and ship the ones needed. The walls are nearly finished and I make the final changes to the southern layout to fit the last 4 domus before making a final decision about the area left. Currently it's not clear whether I need a coliseum or not. If not then I can use the reserved area for the last 7 insulae and some greenery. If I do then I have a very small area to the south-east to build insulae. But then I will not get perfect coverage of some buildings (odeum, school). My domus evolve to maximum size!
Rome demands 60 grain by September. There's enough in stock to ship.

Decorative features are added all over the city to fill out empty gaps and make it more appealing. The last reserved area transforms into residential area overlooking statues and greenery. I watch as the plebs rush to settle in the city. Raiders are also interested - in 2000 Dn. I pay'em. Without warning an olive farm has burned down. I replace it and build more prefect and engineer offices.

In July all the requirements have been met except for favour. I send Rome two large, one medium and one small gift to win the scenario.